Ready, Steady, Action
Hands up how many of us have had a brilliant idea and have done nothing about it then, seeing it becoming a success and crying out loud “that was my idea!” Why wasn’t it your successful idea? Why did you do nothing about it, apart from dreaming it? Unfortunately the reason is simply because you did nothing about it and did not take action on your idea. You spoke about it relentlessly but let someone else turn it into the international success it is now. Sometimes it is at lot easier to talk about it than actually taking action.
This has been a recurring theme with my clients. So instead of just coming up with a great idea, I would like you to get ready, to get steady and take action!
We are creatures that enjoy our comfort zones and then once in a while we come up with a fantastic idea, and work on it and as quickly give up. We then watch from the side line as someone else turns the idea into a reality and takes all the glory. We knew that it should have been us standing up on that platform but because we did not have the self-belief we let the idea float away. It takes real courage, strength and passion to make an idea a reality. It is vital we put in the hard graft and the hours, to make our dreams come true. As my father says “nothing worthwhile comes easily”.
So ask yourself what would you like to see come true and a reality that you came up with ? What are you passionate about that you do not wish someone else to take credit for? What do you want to take action on?
It is a cop out to give up on what we actually want. It is easy to give up at the first hurdle because we can say “at least I tried”. Take a few minutes to ask yourself what would you like to achieve and what steps you need to put in place in order to achieve it.
When you break these steps down it actually isn’t that scary and is probably quite achievable in making it a reality. When we were at school most of us did homework so that we could make the grades. When we become adults we sort of forget the homework part and just took for granted that we should be able to do the a, b and c. Think of your goals as a school project; put in the hours, do that homework and most importantly take action. Do not let someone else take the credit when it could be you. Do not give up on your goals because someone else has done something similar before or because you do not think you are good enough. Instead, have the courage to know you can achieve it; get ready by writing down these goals; get steady by writing down how you will achieve them and then take action! If Thomas Edison had given up at the first hurdle or even the 1,000th, we would not be using the light bulb. If Tim Berners-Lee did not take action on his goal the world wide web would probably be called something completely different and not what we know it as today. The most important thing is that you do not give up when action is needed.